Fans Deserve Better Explanation From Newcastle Than This One

Written by Dr. Ed Harrison

2:19pm Wednesday, January 8th, 2014

Commented 467 times

We looked through the minutes of the second Fan Forum meeting that was held on Monday night, and quite honestly we didn’t learn too much more about Newcastle and Mike Ashley, that we didn’t already know.

Mike Ashley – free world-wide advertising for Sports Direct However, we’ll focus on just one question and answer that we think is enlightening.

And the question was fr0m NUST representative Peter Fanning – so we suppose the NUST have been included again in the Fans Forum after being banned after the first meeting for publishing their minutes before the club published theirs.

Here’s the question and answer

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Question from Peter Fanning “Do Sports Direct pay the going rate for advertising, their adverts are all over the stadium?”

Answer: The club explained that the advertising boards in question were installed with Sports Direct branding as a showcase for unused space. Sports Direct don’t pay, but it would be sold if other advertisers wanted the space.

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That seems to just a ridiculous answer to us – and how do advertisers even know the space taken up by Sports Direct is even available?

Why don’t they put on the advertising boards something like – this advertising space is available – and who to contact.

And who knows the club may get some interested parties enquiring.

The image you get on TV when you watch the Newcastle home games is fa too many Sport Direct.com signs which seem to be everywhere – even along the walls where the two teams gather before they walk out onto the field just before the kick-off.

So this is a less than a good answer – and basically what seems to be happening is that Mike Ashley’s other company – Sports Direct – are getting free world-wide advertising and certainly in the US – this would not be allowed.

Compare this with the Manchester City club naming their stadium The Etihad, and they have a £400M deal over 10 years for that from Etihad Airlines.

But Etihad are owned by the Abu Dhabi government, and the airline has very close ties with Manchester City’s Billionaire owner, Sheikh Mansour, who is himself a member of the Abu Dhabi Royal family.

It would be nice (and it would be fair) if Sports Direct paid Newcastle United say £10M each year, for that word wide advertising they are currently getting for free.

Or another way of pricing it would be to understand what Newcastle will be asking for the advertising – and have Sport Direct paying that amount – backdated to when they started the advertising.

And who knows, maybe our commercial income will rise significantly from the pitiful levels it is at the moment.

not a great explanation at all…surely a local company paying just £100 is better than nothing, so why not let them buy it….unless some legal ramifications involving meeting a price others have paid.

ian

I am pleased pardew does all that post match stuff with fans, but thats a bonus, not the main requirement. He has done an average job I think and he needs to do more now with this team, had plenty time to settle now.

Transfer- in my time only Keegan and Robson have been better. They were also fully backed in the transfer market. Pardew knows what has to be done to grow and improve the team but has to be more patient in achieving it.

Likewise so do the fans. The squad is the best we’ve had in years though still unbalanced. A Hall/ Shepherd would recognise that and invest in an attacking / wideman and ST. Where Ashley has scored over Hall/ Shepherd is in recognising Carr’s qualities in recommending the right purchases and Pardew agreeing.

Ed, this is the best NUFC site to be sure. However your leader today is disgraceful and suggests that at all times you are not researching the content properly. You posted :- “We looked through the minutes of the second Fan Forum meeting that was held on Monday night, and quite honestly we didn’t learn too much more about Newcastle and Mike Ashley, that we didn’t already know.”

No wonder you didn’t learn too much as the minutes you are referring to are from September and not last nights meeting.!

if carr worked for shepherd or hall there would have been so much success with their spending and his scouting, definitely a great match

But my issue with pardew is entirely to do with playing style. You saw everton last year were a hard working team, very good at it but nothing special to watch (except the links between baines and pienaar), played a mix of decent football and long stuff to fellaini.

Martinez turned them into a total ball playing side in a matter of weeks, that’s my issue with pardew, it doesn’t need to take years to get players who mostly come from ball playing sides to play well together, it should be pretty instant to get the basics of it then you refine it over time….he hasn’t got them anywhere near being able to play that way yet.

Even under houghton we would attack teams, might have been direct to carroll/nolan, but we still had a go, this is way too cautious and the way pardew has played for a good 10 years so really dont see it changing i’m afraid. We might pass it more but never attack enough

I’ll be travelling to London from Singapore in April and it happen that nufc has a home match on the 19 April against Swansea. I’ve been dying to visit St James’ Park and to watch the team play in front of my eyes. As such, I would need some kind advice from the local Geordies for my trip.

1. Ticketing – how do I secure my tickets and how early in advance can I purchase? apart from the club website, is there any other channels which I can get them at a discount?

2. What’s your suggestion for traveling to Newcastle from London? Should I travel on the day before or match day?

3. Accommodation? For a budget of GBP 80/night, do you have any suggestion? Or is the budget too low? I hope to stay somewhere near main attractions and the stadium.

4. For a 3 days 2 nights stay in Newcastle, is there any suggested itinerary to share with me?

5. Any other things to take note of?

Kindly reply me in this chat or pm me at famerasser84@yahoo.com.sg . I would really appreciate your valuable advice and I’m so looking forward to seeing you at Tyneside!!!! Cheers!!!

Ed… to update from the January meeting, it gets better than SD in isolation…..

AMc: “We learned recently that Sports Direct don’t pay for stadium advertising. Has a new sponsor been lined up for next season who will pay?”

The board outlined that the club is constantly working to bring in sponsors across all platforms and that if a company is willing to pay, the club will secure the right sponsor at the right value. It was outlined that partnering big brands is not straightforward and that multi-million pound partnership deals do take time.

AMc asked if Firetrap, which advertises on LED boards, receives its advertising exposure as part of Sports Direct. It was confirmed that it is part of the same group.

sorry but you have to put CH on another level to pardew, while CH may not have been anywhere near the 2 you mention he took a team that was had been torn apart, fixed all the fighting, and had a very good record

he got sacked sitting 12th in his first season back in the prem, with fans and players kind of happy,

he scored 105 goals in the championship and only lost 4 games

the guy is head and shoulders above him when it comes to talking to the press, pardew ties himself up in press confrences, he can never remember what he said last week,

Would anyone perhaps be able to create a false email template, from say ‘Boots’ and test the waters at SJP as to minimal advertising package?

Then that could be multiplied up to a figure that SD and associated branding should be paying. Or can they just be truthful and justify it as a perk of ownership, that offsets the verbal abuse directed towards Ashley.

I’ll be travelling to London from Singapore in April and it happen that nufc has a home match on the 19 April against Swansea. I’ve been dying to visit St James’ Park and to watch the team play in front of my eyes. As such, I would need some kind advice from the local Geordies for my trip.

1. Ticketing – how do I secure my tickets and how early in advance can I purchase? apart from the club website, is there any other channels which I can get them at a discount?

2. What’s your suggestion for traveling to Newcastle from London? Should I travel on the day before or match day?

3. Accommodation? For a budget of GBP 80/night, do you have any suggestion? Or is the budget too low? I hope to stay somewhere near main attractions and the stadium.

4. For a 3 days 2 nights stay in Newcastle, is there any suggested itinerary to share with me?

5. Any other things to take note of?

Kindly reply me in this chat or pm me at famerasser84@yahoo.com.sg . I would really appreciate your valuable advice and I’m so looking forward to seeing you at Tyneside!!!! Cheers!!!

1. i’d go for the official site, usually best prices and will be tickets available as we haven’t been selling out recently

2. get the train booked in advance if you can as I just got a return ticket to london for £10 by buying it a few months in advance

3. try things like travel lodge/premier inn (one right in middle of city), they are usually cheap again if booked in advance, have everything you need if you want a nice clean room, shower, tv and nothing more

4. and 5….just have a look around tourist sites too see what there is, lots to do just depends what your interested are

i think they honestly know what they are doing “legally” he wants free advertising for his “profit” business and we are his childrens pocket money and play thing !

ofc he wants us to do better as his kids will get more pocket money and advertising through press ect for sports direct if we do but if anything impacts on his main business in the loss of advertising ect he would have a little boys temper tantrum.

They may have sold naming rights to wonga but its walks talks and acts like it still is the sports direct arena you have to give him one thing he is razor sharp wen it comes to things like that. I can understand the fans will always want new signings and money to be spent but thats notting new if anything the fans would love to see the academy players been given a chance why was Dummet a LB played at CB derby and not looked at since? talk about confidence destroying Bigi the same JK should be getting these players hooked up with good clubs in lower leagues so they can develop what will they learn rotting in the reserves? notting its not sending out a good msgs to young players who might be considering joining nufc why would they?

Despite the hoopla around Fernandinho and Yaya Touré, they do not really dominate the midfield. When they have lost away they haven’t been closing down and allowed the opposition to test their defense. When we played them in the League Cup we restricted them for 90 mins and had some opportunities, so all is not lost. A positive attitude and some affirmation of what our players are good at could potentially lead to…… a draw!

what i find it hard to understand is that we all know that advertising boards dont come free and that to make a blank advertising board it would cost x amount to make but obv a printed/designed board would cost x amount extra so…who would be paying that extra cost ?

City haven’t been great on their travels this season, and you are right in your assessments of Yaya and Fernandinho. Much lesser teams than us have got a result at home to City and there is absolutely no reason why we should not be able to nick all 3 points.

Having said that, City have come up here the last few seasons and pretty much upped it a gear. We’ve been able to match them for periods of the game, but never look like actually taking anything from the game.

Basically, if what was said is true, it shows tha no one wants to advertise inside sjp, otherwise the sd signs would be few and far between. Either that or his rates are stupidly high (likely scenario)

Markaccus @1 Aye I saw your reply but unfortunately I had to go and do some work. I think a lot of anti-Pardew posters are very vocal on here but I suspect a blog poll would be would be quite close with maybe just in favour of Pardew. I am not going to claim this as fact (like some on here) just a feeling I get from reading all the comments – come on Ed give us a Pardew poll.

Regardless of the results, you’d have that sociopath Ian running around with his ‘it’s not representative of the true fans whom I speak with in a pub in Jesmond, or when we went on our away trip to the moon’

My own opinion is that Pardew is the best man we could probably get for the money that he is being paid. He is not a glamorous or exciting option, but decent enough to finish mid-table.

Could we get better managers? Most definitely. Would they be willing to work under Ashley? Perhaps, for a while. Would they be willing to come out the constant drivel and PR spin every transfer window? Repeat the same old tired clichés following our defeats, as well as put up with the sheer contempt that our fans are shown by the current custodian of the club? Not likely.

So I say we simply must make peace with the fact AP is the manager and focus on getting the fat ******* out of our club. Simples 😀

I would worry that the result would make people think it proves who is right, rather than simply showing where the majority lies. For example, if like you say it comes out slightly pro pardew, will the pro pardew people start hurling “told you so’s” at the anti pardews. Likewise the other way. Maybe the only way to keep the peace would be to avoid it all together 😀

Transfer- you make the point for me. Had we loaned/ signed Lukaku and Barkley it would transform the side. Martinez has landed on his feet.

Just contrast the fortunes of Clarke at WBA who without Lukaku are a completely different side. A top draw ST makes all the difference. Look at ManU who without Van Persie and Rooney look mediocre. Hernandez who many wanted to buy is a very limited ST.

Pardew’s hand has improved but he can’t dig too deep into the under 21’s and academy to find the quality of the top PL sides. You say he has had time and your right in respect of the need for a revolutionary change at the coaching level.

I watched some of the St Mirren v. Celtic game on TV on Sunday and although Campbell scored he contributed little and looked like an infant in the seniors playground. Adam Armstrong looks like a real talent.

The 5 year plan would only ever deliver from wise investment nurturing and blossoming of the youngsters. As well as bringing players in now is the time to shake things up with the shedding of those that just are not ever going to be PL players or coaches.

We’ve had this conversation before- it’s not always the Manager to blame in football. I agreed with your Hoddle comments he talks more football sense than most on Sky and he actually says something to think about. He really is a big loss to the game in my opinion.

Henry Winter is very knowledgeable but I suspect doesn’t want to always show it when surrounded by some of the hacks on Sunday Supplement.

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health update

My latest bone scans and CAT scans were completed this week and I met with my oncologist Dr. Dhruva to go over the results.

The stage four cancer remains stabilized and hasn't spread over the last six months.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer in early 2017 after being in remission for six years.

There is no cure for stage 4 cancer - but there are treatments which attempt to prolong life.

I am upbeat with the results and remain in awe of the doctors and nurses at the Rex Cancer Center here in Raleigh, North Carolina

It's truly humbling to see how inspiring they are with their patients.

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